Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (SB)
Karkala , Jan 25: During his visit to Karkala constituency on Wednesday January 24, Dakshina Kannada district In-charge minister, Ramanath Rai, came down heavily upon Karkala MLA, Sunil Kumar, for his alleged inflammatory statement on Lord Rama and Allah , which Rai feels, has laid bare Kumar's stand on secularism.
Earlier in the week, during his visit to Bantwal taluk, Sunil Kumar had reportedly stated that the upcoming election in Bantwal constituency will be between Lord Rama and Allah.
"During his visit to Bantwal, which happens to be the constituency represented by me, Sunil Kumar stated that in Bantwal constituency, the tussle will be between Lord Rama and Allah, not between two individuals. His comment has made people to realize that Sunil Kumar does not have even the minimum knowledge about God. Rama, Allah or Jesus are all the names of the same God and a person who happens to be a true believer of the Almighty can never make such a statement. This kind of comment can be made only with the clear intention of disturbing communal harmony and peace in the region. People should be beware of such people. It is condemnable that BJP is supporting these types of people who nurse radical views." Rai said.
"When I was an infant, my father took me to Rameshwaram temple and there he kept me the name Ramanath Rai. So there is no need for me to learn lessons about God or Rama from these radicals. The God who is being worshiped by people following different religions by various names is one and the same. All the Daivas in which people of Tulunadu repose faith form my soul," Rai added.
"As far as I know, Sunil Kumar had once spread a fake news about tiger conservation project in the region and by creating fear about the project in the minds of the people, he had got elected as MLA. Once upon a time he came here with an empty pocket and now everyone knows how he has amassed wealth," he commented.
"Being a politician, people' representative and minister a number of times, I have never compromised in my sincerity towards the society. Till now, no one has labelled me as communal or radical. But BJP is pointing fingers at me claiming me to be guilty. They have always played politics in the name of religion and God. Election is near.So they have now started to divide the people of our constituency through hate speeches and communal propaganda, which is wrong and unethical," Rai noted.
"Sometime back, at a convention of Beary language, I had said that my constituency has a large number of people speaking Beary language. In every election Janatha Dal has been fielding Muslim candidates against me. But I am getting majority of votes from this community which means majority of secular Muslims have been backing me. Because of them I even became a minister. But now Sunil Kumar has been trying to spread wrong notion about my above statement and trying to question my secular credentials," he wondered.
Ramanath Rai said that everyone knows him well in his my constituency. "There is no need for an outsider to come here and analyze what I said and did. I know very well how my people have been respecting me. So I want to say that Sunil Kumar's statement only depicts his foolishness. He cannot do any harm to my secular stand. Instead of nursing fundamental ideals, he should work for earning social respect and harmony. So I have come to his constituency for condemning his Rama-Allah statement and showing my total opposition to it." He added.